This silky, refreshing, chilled soup originated in Spain’s Andalusian region centuries ago and has since travelled around the world. Given that preparation involves nothing more than peeling, chopping and blitzing, it’s the ultimate speedy opener to a summertime feast, best made 24 hours in advance to allow all the flavours to develop.
If you haven’t got sherry vinegar to hand, red wine vinegar makes a reasonable substitute.
Meanwhile, if you want to give your Gazpacho a grown-up twist, skip the bread and add 100ml of vodka to the mix along with a splash of Tabasco and/or Worcestershire Sauce to lift the classic Bloody Mary cocktail to spectacular heights. Cheers!
Ingredients (serves 4)
1 red pepper, deseeded and diced
1 green pepper, deseeded and diced
1 medium cucumber, diced
900g ripe, juicy tomatoes
100g slightly stale crusty white bread, torn into small pieces
2 cloves of garlic, peeled
125ml extra-virgin olive oil
2 tbsp sherry vinegar
Method
Set aside 1 tbsp the diced red pepper and cucumber for garnish and place all the remaining ingredients apart from the vinegar into a blender or food processor. Blend until completely smooth, add the vinegar and season to taste.
Pass the mixture through a fine sieve and refrigerate until well chilled. Serve topped with the reserved diced red pepper and cucumber and drizzles of extra-virgin olive oil.
